Puck! The Musical

Puck! - The Musical. Click to enlarge.

Puck! - The Musical, adapted from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with lyrics by Matheson and music by Errikos Vaios & book by Errikos & Matheson, Premièring at the Haven Amphitheatre, Sydney, Australia, 18th, 19th & 20th January 2013.

Cirque For Life

Cirque For Life logo

Matheson is currently working with the circus arts & HIV charity, Cirque For Life, as artistic director, musical director & composer.
Details of upcoming U.S. tour to be announced.
Visit the Cirque For Life website.

Fronted by Jamie Moses, known to many as the rhythm guitarist of Queen + Paul Rodgers, Hiding in Public is a pop rock project driven by songwriter David Holland.

Check out Matheson's orchestrations and performances on the following tracks:

Bikini Blue Sky (trumpets & soprano saxophone)

No-One To Save Me (string orchestra arrangement)

Sangria Evening (trombone, trumpet & alto saxophone)

She Was Mine (clarinet, saxophones, trumpets & trombones)

The tracks No-One To Save Me & She Was Mine both received awards from GarageBand:

Award for She Was Mine. Click to go to the award site.

Subtitles for "2"

"2"

For the hit avant-garde theatrical show, "2", by Dimitris Papaioannou (Δημήτρης Παπαϊωάννου), director of the 2004 Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony, Matheson translated the spoken Moldovan, Arabic, Albanian & Russian in the show into English for the subtitles for the DVD release.

"The Mouse Who Wanted To Touch A Star" — Cartoon

The Toy Soldier

The Mouse and The Toy Sailor

Matheson is currently collaborating with Taim-Laps Animation Studios and Greek composer and producer Nassos Sopilis, on a new CG animation feature: The Mouse Who Wanted To Touch A Star.

The book and lyrics are by the world-renowned poet and author of children's books, Eugenio Tribizas, and Matheson and Nassos have adapted and set poetry from the original book to music (+ orchestrations, production, sound design, and foley).

The première of the film is to be shown at Athens' largest concert hall, Megaro Mousikis (Μέγαρο Μουσικής), followed by a television broadcast on Greece's National Television Station, ΕΡΤ, and a DVD release.Above: Pre-production sketches of three of the characters in the film.

Solo CD: "The Spice Of Life"

The Spice of Life

Due for release in April July 2013, Matheson's latest album, The Spice of Life, can be pre-purchased from this order form, or you can subscribe to the newsletter if you'd rather receive an email upon its release with details as to where to buy.
Featuring 4 rearrangements of popular songs & 10 eclectic original compositions by Matheson, the album vacillates between the satirical and the serious, the parodical and the pioneering, with as may hilarious moments as there are melancholy.

A few tasters from the album:

Somewhere Out There
A prestissimo patter-song with a politico-geographical bent...

I'll travel by boat or by bike or by train
Helicopter or hovercraft, parachute, plane
Because somewhere out there though I've no idea whereIs my dream come true...!”

The Elements: Part II
Another patter-song: an 'update' to Tom Lehrer's original The Elements, exploring the heavy nucleuses discovered since 1959 when Tom penned a mere(!) 102 to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General.
Extra verses take us up to 116 elements, followed by an intrepid foray into the tongue-twisting world of subatomic particle nomenclature...

“Then came hahnium, dubbed 'dubnium', with dubious applications— More protons in its nucleus than Cruella has Dalmatians!”

“But why reject cause and effect — the cosmic chain reaction;
The predetermined universe and physical attraction?
If up until they prove free will, you claim it's an illusion……We can all commit adultery and blame atomic fusion!”

Karen Solomon — Cosmic Lullaby

A beautiful Celtic-influenced ballad written & performed by the soft, sensitive vocals of American-born Karen Solomon, and arranged & produced by Matheson.
The mix is scheduled for June 16th... Thanks to everyone who's expressed an interest, but please - no more emails! :-) It'll be posted here towards the end of June for all to hear!

And no, the rumours weren't entirely accurate! So, in an attempt to answer a multitude of emails in one posting, here is the instrumentation (all recorded live, save two samples):

Bagpipes

Clàrsach

Cretan Lyre

Kanun

Saz

Duduk

Santur

Ney

Quena

Palla de Lluvia

Bansuri

Sitar

Chau Gong

Shakuhachi

Rebab

Βιολί

Oud

Full Symphonic Western Orchestra

Christos Alexandrou — One Look

Christos Alexandrou — "One Look"

Matheson worked on six tracks for Christos Alexandrou's album One Look, Play Music record label.